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Contemporary English Version

Nehemiah 13:25

So in my anger, I called down curses on those men. I had them beaten and even pulled out the hair of some of them. Then I made them promise: In the name of God we solemnly promise not to let our sons and daughters marry foreigners.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Divorce;   Zeal, Religious;   Thompson Chain Reference - Marriage;   Nehemiah;   Solomon;   The Topic Concordance - Marriage;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Alliance and Society with the Enemies of God;   Ammonites, the;   Anger;   Hair, the;   Punishments;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Beard;   Marriage;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Foreigner;   Malachi;   Nehemiah;   Samaria, samaritans;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Hittites;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Giants;   Malachi;   Nehemiah;   Noah;   Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Crimes and Punishments;   Malachi;   Nehemiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Nehemiah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Excommunication;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Ammon, Ammonites, Children of Ammon;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Nehemiah;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Samaritans;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Genealogy;   Hair;   Peel;   Punishments;   Stranger and Sojourner (in the Old Testament);   Wrath (Anger);   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ammonites;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Marriage;   Moab;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves!
Hebrew Names Version
I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
King James Version
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.
English Standard Version
And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
New Century Version
I argued with those people, put curses on them, hit some of them, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to make a promise to God, saying, "Do not let your daughters marry the sons of foreigners, and do not take the daughters of foreigners as wives for your sons or yourselves.
New English Translation
So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, "You will not marry off your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
Amplified Bible
So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters [in marriage] to their sons, nor take [any of] their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
New American Standard Bible
So I quarreled with them and cursed them, and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take any of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
World English Bible
I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then I reprooued them, & cursed them, and smote certaine of them, and pulled off their heare, and tooke an othe of them by God, Yee shall not giue your daughters vnto their sonnes, neither shall ye take of their daughters vnto your sonnes, nor for your selues.
Legacy Standard Bible
So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take up their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
Berean Standard Bible
I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said: "You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
Complete Jewish Bible
I disputed with them and cursed them, and I beat some of them up and pulled out their hair. Then I made them swear by God, "You will not give your daughters as wives for their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves.
Darby Translation
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair, and adjured them by God [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
Easy-to-Read Version
So I told the men that they were wrong. I said bad things to them. I hit some of them, and I pulled out their hair. I forced them to make a promise in God's name. I said to them, "You must not marry the daughters of these foreigners. Don't let their daughters marry your sons, and don't let your daughters marry the sons of these foreigners.
George Lamsa Translation
And I contended with them and cursed them and smote some of them and buried them and made the others swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters to your sons or for yourselves.
Good News Translation
I reprimanded the men, called down curses on them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath in God's name that never again would they or their children intermarry with foreigners.
Lexham English Bible
So I quarreled with them and cursed them and beat some of their men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath by God: "Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
Literal Translation
And I contended with them, and put a curse on them, and struck some of them, and I plucked their hair. And I made them swear by the name of God, saying, You shall not give your daughter totheir sons, nor take their daughters to yoursons, or for yourselves.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And I reproued them, and cursed them, & smote certayne men of the, and plucte them vp, and toke an ooth of them by God: Ye shal not geue youre daughters vnto their sonnes, nether shal ye take their daughters vnto youre sonnes, or for youre selues.
American Standard Version
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
Bible in Basic English
And I took up the cause against them, cursing them and giving blows to some of them and pulling out their hair; and I made them take an oath by God, saying, You are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then I reproued them, and cursed them, and smote certayne men of them, and made them bare: and toke an oth of them by God, Ye shall not geue your daughters vnto their sonnes, neither shall ye take their daughters vnto your sonnes, or for your selues.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God: 'Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
King James Version (1611)
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certeine of them, and pluckt off their haire, and made them sweare by God, saying, Yee shall not giue your daughters vnto their sonnes, nor take their daughters vnto your sonnes, or for your selues.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I strove with them and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying,Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your sons.
English Revised Version
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y rebuykide hem, and Y curside; and Y beet the men `of hem, and Y made hem ballid, and Y made hem to swere bi the Lord, that thei schulden not yyue her douytris to the sones of `tho aliens, and that thei schulden not take of the douytris of `tho aliens to her sones, and to hem silf;
Update Bible Version
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons, or for yourselves.
New King James Version
So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.
New Living Translation
So I confronted them and called down curses on them. I beat some of them and pulled out their hair. I made them swear in the name of God that they would not let their children intermarry with the pagan people of the land.
New Life Bible
So I fought with them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them promise in the name of God, saying, "You must not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
New Revised Standard
And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair; and I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So I contended with them, and laid a curse upon them, and I smote, from among them, certain men, and pulled out their hair, - and I put them on oath by God, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take of their daughters, for your sons nor for yourselves.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I chid them, and laid my curse upon them. And I beat some of them, and shaved off their hair, and made them swear by God that they would not give their daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for their sons, nor for themselves, saying:
Revised Standard Version
And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair; and I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
Young's Literal Translation
And I strive with them, and declare them vile, and smite certain of them, and pluck off their hair, and cause them to swear by God, `Ye do not give your daughters to their sons, nor do ye take of their daughters to your sons, and to yourselves.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

Contextual Overview

23 I discovered that some Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 About half of their children could not speak Hebrew—they spoke only the language of Ashdod or some other foreign language. 25 So in my anger, I called down curses on those men. I had them beaten and even pulled out the hair of some of them. Then I made them promise: In the name of God we solemnly promise not to let our sons and daughters marry foreigners. 26 God dearly loved King Solomon of Israel and made him the greatest king on earth, but Solomon's foreign wives led him into sin. 27 So we will obey you and not rebel against our God by marrying foreign women. 28 Jehoiada, the son of the high priest Eliashib, had a son who had married a daughter of Sanballat from Horon, and I forced his son to leave. 29 I pray that God will punish them for breaking their priestly vows and disgracing the Levi tribe. 30 Then I made sure that the people were free from every foreign influence, and I assigned duties for the priests and Levites. 31 I also arranged for the people to bring firewood to the altar each day and for them to bring the first part of their harvest to the temple. I pray that God will bless me for the good I have done.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I contended: Nehemiah 13:11, Nehemiah 13:17, Proverbs 28:4

cursed: or, reviled, Nehemiah 5:13, Deuteronomy 27:14-26, Psalms 15:4, Luke 11:45, Luke 11:46

smote: Deuteronomy 25:2, Deuteronomy 25:3, Ezra 7:26

plucked: Isaiah 50:6

made them: Nehemiah 10:29, Nehemiah 10:30, Deuteronomy 6:13, 2 Chronicles 15:12-15, Ezra 10:5

Ye shall not: Exodus 34:16, Deuteronomy 7:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:3 - swear Judges 17:2 - cursedst 1 Samuel 9:17 - reign over 2 Kings 8:18 - his wife 2 Chronicles 21:6 - he had Ezra 9:3 - off Nehemiah 5:6 - General Nehemiah 5:12 - I called Nehemiah 13:28 - I chased Proverbs 24:25 - them 2 Corinthians 7:11 - indignation Galatians 1:8 - let

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I contended with them,.... Argued with them, faithfully admonished them, and sharply reproved them:

and cursed them; assuring them that the curse of God would come upon them, unless they repented. Aben Ezra interprets it of excommunicating them, either with "Cherem" or "Niddui", which were two sorts of excommunication among the Jews; but it is a question whether as yet those were used by them:

and smote certain of them; ordered them to be beaten with rods or scourges, as transgressors of the law:

and plucked off their hair; or ordered it to be plucked off by the executioner that smote them; which sort of punishment, as it was painful, it was disgraceful and ignominious, see Isaiah 1:6,

and made them swear by God, saying, ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves; not intermarry with them; this they had sworn to before,

Nehemiah 10:29.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. I contended with them — Proved the fact against these iniquitous fathers, in a legal assembly.

And cursed them — Denounced the judgments of God and the sentence of the law upon them.

Smote certain of them — Had them punished by whipping.

And plucked off their hair — Had them shaven, as a mark of the greatest ignominy.

And made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give] Caused them to bind themselves by an oath, that they would make no intermarriages with those who were not of the seed of Israel.


 
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